Keir Starmer to face vote on Mandelson vetting scandal as key figures give evidence to MPs - UK politics live

Defendant, 21, in court with second man over alleged scheme to kill music fans outside Vienna stadiumThe trial against a man accused of plotting to attack one of Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna nearly two years ago began in Austria on Tuesday.The plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift’s three performances in August 2024. The singer’s fans were devastated, but rallied to turn Vienna into a citywide trading post for friendship bracelets and singalongs. Continue reading...

Audias Flores, known as ‘El Jardinero’, of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, captured in western state of NayaritMexican special forces have arrested one of the top commanders of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel in the western state of Nayarit.Audias Flores, known as “El Jardinero”, is a regional commander in control of swathes of CJNG territory along Mexico’s Pacific coast. He was considered a potential successor to Nemesio Oseguera, alias “El Mencho”, who ran the cartel and was killed in a security operation in February. Continue reading...

France’s president, who is also co-prince of the micro-state, expected to speak frankly about issue in country with some of strictest abortion laws in EuropeMeanwhile, Macron is visiting the Andorran primary school in Santa Coloma and absolutely loving spending his time with kids, happily posing to pictures with the Andorran flags.Last week, he suggested he would quit politics at the end of his term in May next year, and so we should expect to see more of this sort of legacy-building trips and interventions as he enters the final year in office. Continue reading...

Briefings obtained by freedom of information warned a ‘cascade of withdrawals’ could lead to collapse of 2026 South Australian festivalGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAdelaide writers’ week was sacrificed to save the 2026 Adelaide festival, an event that ploughs more than $60m into South Australia’s economy each year, documents show.After the 8 January announcement by the Adelaide festival board that controversial Palestinian Australian academic Randa Abdel-Fattah had been dumped from the AWW program, it wasn’t just fellow Australian and international guest writers and academics who began pulling out in droves. Continue reading...

Education secretary says children will face restrictions and government will consider range of views on their formChildren in the UK will face restrictions on their use of social media but the government remains open-minded about what form the limits will take, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has said.Phillipson told broadcasters on Tuesday she had concerns about the content that under-16s were exposed to online and the length of time they spent staring at screens. Continue reading...

In latest stage of £42m restoration project, 30-strong team removed mast from Nelson’s Battle of Trafalgar flagshipThere is only one correct way to extricate a 15-tonne wrought iron mast from one of the world’s most famous and beloved warships – very slowly, and with extreme care.Which is precisely what a 30-strong team, led by shipwrights and riggers, did on Monday night into Tuesday morning, when they lifted the foremast from HMS Victory as part of a £42m conservation project. Continue reading...

Tehran’s UN envoy says ‘full respect’ of Iran’s rights also key for lasting regional stabilityUS is being ‘humiliated’ by Iran’s leadership, says Friedrich MerzWe are restarting our live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran.Iran needs “credible guarantees” against more US-Israeli attacks before it can ensure security in the Gulf, Tehran’s envoy to the UN has said, while on a Russian visit Iran’s foreign minister blamed Washington for the failure of peace talks.Donald Trump is unhappy with an Iranian proposal on the war because it does not address Iran’s nuclear program, Reuters cited a US official as saying on Monday, after Trump discussed the proposal with his top national security aides. Iran had offered to end its closure of the strait of Hormuz if the US lifted its blockade and ended the war in a proposal that would postpone discussions on Iran’s nuclear program, the Associated Press reported earlier, citing two unnamed regional officials. Later reporting quoted White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt as saying the proposal was “being discussed”.Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said direct talks with Israel sought to end the war on Lebanon and that those who dragged Lebanon into it were the ones committing “treason” – a jab at the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, which claimed several attacks on Israeli targets in south Lebanon on Monday.Iraq’s newly elected president nominated businessman Ali al-Zaidi as the country’s prime minister-designate on Monday, after the country’s leaders yielded to US pressure not to support the bid of a former premier close to Iran.The Coordination Framework – an alliance of Shia factions with varying links to Iran – had initially backed powerbroker Nouri al-Maliki to become the country’s next premier, but Trump’s ultimatum left Iraqi leaders looking elsewhere.The US and Iran clashed at the UN on Monday over Tehran’s nuclear program and its selection to be one of dozens of vice-presidents at a month-long conference to review the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. US official Christopher Yeaw said Iran’s selection was an “affront” to the treaty. Tehran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reza Najafi, rejected the US statement as “baseless and politically motivated”. Continue reading...

Lauren Ashley Mastrosa given 18-month community corrections order after book was read by handful of advance readersThe author behind an offensive novel depicting toddler role-play has been convicted but spared jail for penning child abuse material.Lauren Ashley Mastrosa, a 34-year-old former marketing executive for a Christian charity, wrote Daddy’s Little Toy under the pen name Tori Woods and published it through an online pre-release in March 2025. Continue reading...

Monarch to allude to recent strains in special relationship in speech to both houses during four-day state visitKing Charles is expected to allude to recent strains between the UK and US in a rare address by a monarch to the US Congress as he will underline that “time and again our two countries have always found ways to come together”.The king’s remarks in a speech to both houses on Tuesday come after Donald Trump has threatened to tear up a trade deal signed by the UK and US, mocked the Royal Navy and insulted the UK prime minister. Continue reading...

Energy company hails ‘exceptional’ contribution of oil trading operations as profits hit $3.2bn in the first quarterBusiness live – latest updatesBP’s quarterly profits have more than doubled amid a jump in oil and gas prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East.The energy company said on Tuesday that underlying profits for the first quarter were $3.2bn (£2.4bn), up from $1.38bn in the equivalent period a year ago and outstripping City forecasts of $2.67bn. Continue reading...

The NSW premier, who was unequivocal in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, has now linked the fate of his state’s laws with those of the Queensland legal challengeFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has said he will only ban the slogan “globalise the intifada” if a potential constitutional challenge to a similar ban in Queensland is unsuccessful, the strongest indication yet that the state government may not seek to proscribe the contested phrase at all.Minns was unequivocal about his intention to ban what he described as “hateful, violent rhetoric” following the Bondi terror attack in December, but sent the issue to a parliamentary inquiry, which he said would enable legislation to be introduced when parliament returned in February. Continue reading...